A great idea, Jerry. I'm not afraid to be next:

My first 3 rugs (since they were all bought within 6 months): a 4 x 6 Aubusson-designed Indian rug bought in 1971 to decorate a space in a new house. Can't show you a picture, since it is long gone. Another first - same year, anyway - a 3 x 5 painted Sarouk, tight weave, curled edges, perfect condition, the whole nine-yards. I had already started reading about rugs and thought I knew something. The last of these was a 4 x 6 "Caucasian" rug bought at a hotel auction after another few months of reading; now I knew it all. Turned out that this was a new Pakistani rug (nice wool though). All of these are long gone.

First serious rug is pictured as plate 46 in Vanishing Jewels; one of the best 6-gul Tekke torbas around. This took three years of begging, cajouling, threatening and drinking with a local dealer before he would sell it to me.

My first E-bay rug was an Ersari saddle cover. I'll post it on the next thread, since it's not scanned yet.

You are correct, Jerry: we've come a long way, baby!

Regards, Marvin